Executive summary
These 7 Black Friday marketing ideas are built for brands that sell through creators. Each one comes from what US creators posted last season, and how their followers responded.
The data comes from our analysis of about 508,000 Black Friday posts by US creators on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube, published from 1 November to 2 December 2025. The offer in the caption mattered more than the size of the discount: a free gift with purchase beat the average engagement per view on every platform, while 50% to 59% off was the weakest discount band on all three. Our Black Friday data study adds the worldwide picture, from 1.2 million creator posts, with its full method.
Last Black Friday in numbers
4.71% engagement per view for YouTube Black Friday posts with a free gift, against 3.15% for all
32% of Instagram Black Friday posts stated a % off
508,000 Black Friday posts by US creators analyzed
Source · Upfluence proprietary data. Method: our Black Friday data study
Key takeaways
- Black Friday posts offering a free gift with purchase earned 4.71% engagement per view on YouTube, against 3.15% for all Black Friday posts there, and beat the average on Instagram and TikTok too.
- Discount depth barely moved engagement per view. Instagram posts stayed between 1.96% and 2.23% at every level, and 50% to 59% off was the weakest band on all three platforms.
- Captions built on urgency or price claims, such as “lowest price” or “selling out”, earned less engagement per view than the average on all three platforms.
- Fashion posts earned the highest engagement per view of any product category on Instagram (2.68%, against 2.10% for all).
- Tech was YouTube’s most-posted category, with about 16% of YouTube Black Friday posts.
In this article
- Offer a free gift instead of a deeper discount
- Skip urgency and price claims
- Match the product category to the platform
- Start creator posts in October
- Turn the best creator videos into ads
- Frequently asked questions
What are the best Black Friday marketing ideas for creator campaigns?
The best Black Friday marketing ideas for creator campaigns change the offer, not just the price. A free gift with purchase beat the average Black Friday post last season on every platform. A bigger discount did not.
Black Friday is worth planning for. US shoppers spent a record $11.8 billion online on Black Friday 2025, up from $10.8 billion the year before, according to Adobe Analytics. Shopify merchants sold $14.6 billion over the Black Friday to Cyber Monday weekend, Shopify reported.
We counted about 508,000 Black Friday posts by US creators last season. The 7 ideas below come from comparing their engagement per view.
| # | Idea | What last season’s posts showed |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Offer a free gift when shoppers buy | 4.71% engagement per view on YouTube, against 3.15% for all |
| 2 | Don’t count on a deeper discount | 50% to 59% off was the weakest band on all three platforms |
| 3 | Skip urgency and price claims | 1.72% on Instagram for “lowest price” captions, against 2.10% for all |
| 4 | Lead with fashion on Instagram | 2.68% on Instagram, against 2.10% for all |
| 5 | Put tech on YouTube | 4,338 posts, about 16% of YouTube Black Friday posts |
| 6 | Start creator posts in October | 58% of posts were live before Black Friday week |
| 7 | Turn the best creator videos into ads | 66% of app users skip in-app video ads when they can |
How we measured. We counted posts by US creators with at least 1,000 followers whose caption (or YouTube title and description) mentions Black Friday or BFCM, published from 1 November to 2 December 2025. Engagement per view is likes and comments (plus shares on TikTok) divided by views, as a median across posts. On Instagram, that means Reels only.
Offers and products come from caption keywords, so a post can count in more than one group. These numbers show attention, not sales.
On TikTok, about three quarters of Black Friday posts were TikTok Shop listings, with a median engagement per view of 1.70%. Counting them would pull the TikTok average down, so we compare TikTok posts with the 3.75% median of TikTok Black Friday posts outside TikTok Shop.
1. Offer a free gift when shoppers buy
A free gift with purchase was the one offer that beat the average engagement per view on every platform. The size of the discount made little difference. Giveaways and creator codes beat the average too: our breakdown of Black Friday campaigns covers both.
On Instagram, free-gift posts earned 2.31%, against 2.10% for all Black Friday posts. On YouTube, the gap was wider: 4.71% against 3.15%, about 50% higher. On TikTok, they earned 4.50%, against 3.75% for posts outside TikTok Shop.
The offer was still rare. About 2,600 Instagram Black Friday posts mentioned a free gift, against about 61,000 that stated a % off. That leaves room for a brand that leads with one.
What to brief: name the gift, the spend threshold, and the dates, and ask the creator to show the gift in the first seconds of the video. Send the gift with the product seeding package, so the creator has it to film.
This is the offer in practice: a pet food brand’s 30% off, plus up to three free gifts, in a creator’s weekly weigh-in video for her dog.
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2. Don’t count on a deeper discount
A deeper discount didn’t buy more engagement per view. On Instagram, Black Friday posts stayed between 1.96% and 2.23% at every discount level, from under 20% off to 60% off or more.
Posts at 50% to 59% off were the weakest band on all three platforms: 1.96% on Instagram, 3.58% on TikTok, and 3.47% on YouTube. TikTok had one exception at the top: posts at 60% off or more earned 5.12%, its best band. Posts at under 20% off sat at or above the average on all three.
| Discount stated in the caption | TikTok (outside TikTok Shop) | YouTube | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 20% | 2.23% | 4.14% | 4.05% |
| 20% to 29% | 2.10% | 3.86% | 3.75% |
| 30% to 39% | 2.06% | 4.28% | 3.85% |
| 40% to 49% | 2.11% | 4.07% | 3.51% |
| 50% to 59% | 1.96% | 3.58% | 3.47% |
| 60% or more | 2.21% | 5.12% | 3.71% |
| All Black Friday posts | 2.10% | 3.75% | 3.15% |
Stating a % off is the norm on Instagram and YouTube: about 1 in 3 Black Friday posts did it last season. Our data study found the same worldwide, and warned of discount inflation: about half of the TikTok posts that stated a discount offered 41% or more.
What this means for your team
Pick a discount you can afford, then spend the rest of the budget on a gift or a creator code. A bigger percentage alone won’t buy more attention.
3. Skip urgency and price claims
Urgency and price claims are the default Black Friday caption, and they earned less engagement per view than the average on all three platforms.
Price claims did worst. Posts claiming the “lowest price”, an “all-time low”, or a “price drop” earned 1.72% on Instagram, 2.39% on TikTok, and 3.08% on YouTube. Urgency lines, such as stock running “limited” or “selling out”, earned 1.98% on Instagram, 3.13% on TikTok, and 2.86% on YouTube.
Followers see these lines from every brand by the last week of November. Give the creator something only your brand has to talk about: the gift, the code, or the product itself.
What this means for your team
Take “lowest price ever” and “selling fast” out of the brief. Put the offer and the code in the first line instead.
4. Lead with fashion on Instagram
Fashion posts earned 2.68% engagement per view on Instagram, 28% above the 2.10% average. Fashion was also the most-posted category there. Product category moved engagement per view more than discount size did. The table compares each category with the average Black Friday post on each platform.
| Product category named in the caption | Instagram posts | TikTok posts (outside TikTok Shop) | TikTok | YouTube posts | YouTube | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fashion | 14,568 | 2.68% | 6,079 | 4.29% | 2,147 | 3.72% |
| Beauty | 13,221 | 2.27% | 7,301 | 3.40% | 2,351 | 4.35% |
| Fitness and wellness | 12,266 | 2.21% | 2,715 | 4.03% | 1,474 | 3.57% |
| Home | 5,584 | 2.03% | 1,838 | 2.69% | 1,908 | 3.27% |
| Tech | 4,629 | 2.02% | 1,591 | 2.76% | 4,338 | 3.43% |
| All Black Friday posts | 190,763 | 2.10% | 70,051 | 3.75% | 27,970 | 3.15% |
The percentages are median engagement per view. Categories come from caption keywords (beauty, for example, means skincare, makeup, or fragrance), so a post can count in more than one row.
Fashion and fitness and wellness were the only categories above the average on all three platforms. Beauty trailed on TikTok at 3.40%, below the 3.75% for posts outside TikTok Shop, even though it filled about 35,000 TikTok Black Friday posts. Beauty leads on YouTube at 4.35%, where reviews run longer.
What to copy: a try-on or an outfit video with one code in the caption. Here, a creator with about 40,000 followers shows how a pair of jeans fits, then adds her own code for an extra 10% off the brand’s Black Friday sale.
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@hannahvalford
5. Put tech on YouTube
Tech was YouTube’s most-posted Black Friday category: 4,338 posts, about 16% of all YouTube Black Friday posts. Tech posts earned 3.43% engagement per view on YouTube, above its 3.15% average, against 2.02% on Instagram and 2.76% on TikTok.
A laptop, a camera, or a TV is a purchase shoppers research first. A 10-minute review with a link in the description fits that better than a 15-second clip. Keep TikTok and Instagram for impulse buys.
What this means for your team
Match the category to the platform before you choose the creators. Fashion on Instagram, research-heavy products on YouTube, and beauty with a clear gift or code to stand out on TikTok.
6. Start creator posts in October
58% of US creators’ Black Friday posts last season went live before Black Friday week started. The shopping conversation starts weeks before the sale does.
Book creators in early October and brief the first posts for the end of the month. In our data study, Instagram posts mentioning Black Friday had doubled worldwide by 20 October and reached ten times their early-October level by 3 November.
Early posts are teasers, not a second sale. Show the product, name the date, and ask followers to turn on notifications or join the early-access list.
For the dates of every step, from booking creators to the post-mortem, use our Black Friday checklist.
7. Turn the best creator videos (UGC) into ads
Turn creator content into ads by securing usage rights in the contract, then running the best-performing posts as paid social and retargeting ads during Black Friday week. Your creators’ posts are the ads with proof attached: you already know which ones earned attention.
Repurposing influencer-generated and user-generated content (IGC and UGC) for retargeting campaigns can significantly boost your marketing efforts. Utilize authentic and relatable content created by influencers to re-engage potential customers who have previously interacted with your brand or website.
Creator videos also blend in where brand ads get skipped. In a 2023 survey, about 66% of app users said they always skip an in-app video ad when they can.
What to copy: pick the two or three posts with the highest engagement per view from the build-up, and run them as ads from the Monday of Black Friday week. Write the usage period into the creator’s contract (our influencer contract template covers it), so the ads can run through Cyber Monday.
Give each creator their own code and affiliate link, so you know which posts sold before you pick the ones to boost. Send all of that traffic to one store, such as Shopify or Amazon, and measure each creator’s return on investment.
What this means for brands
Lead with the offer, not the discount. Brief a free gift, keep urgency and price claims out of captions, and match the category to the platform. Then put the best-performing posts behind your Black Friday ad budget.
For the full strategy behind these ideas, see our Black Friday marketing strategy guide.
Frequently asked questions
What are good Black Friday marketing ideas for small businesses?
Start with a free gift with purchase. In our analysis of 508,000 US creator posts last season, free-gift posts beat the average engagement per view on all three platforms. A deeper discount didn’t. Then match the creator to the platform: fashion on Instagram, tech on YouTube.
How much of a discount should you offer on Black Friday?
Offer the discount you can afford, not the biggest one. Engagement per view barely moved with discount depth. On Instagram it stayed between 1.96% and 2.23% at every level. Posts at 50% to 59% off did worst on all three platforms.
How have influencers changed Black Friday shopping?
They moved its start into October. Last season, 58% of US creators’ Black Friday posts went live before Black Friday week. Shoppers follow them there. In a 2023 Kaspersky survey, 58% of Black Friday and Cyber Monday shoppers said they look for the deals their favorite influencers recommend.
When should you start Black Friday marketing with influencers?
Start in early October. Book creators then and get the first posts out by the end of the month. Our data study found Instagram posts mentioning Black Friday had already doubled worldwide by 20 October.
Should you offer free shipping on Black Friday?
Yes, but don’t expect it to stand out. Free-shipping posts earned 2.19% engagement per view on Instagram, close to the 2.10% average. On TikTok they earned 3.36%, below the 3.75% for posts outside TikTok Shop. A free gift did better everywhere.
How can Upfluence help you run Black Friday marketing ideas with creators?
Upfluence runs every idea on this list in one platform, from finding the creators to paying them and tracking their sales.
- Find the right creators: search more than 14 million creator profiles with the Upfluence Search and Find Tool, filtered by audience, category, and engagement.
- Reach out at scale: send personal emails from your own inbox with AI-powered outreach, and let the follow-ups go out on their own.
- Brief offers and codes: create one code and tracking link per creator, and ship gifts and products from the same place with automated workflows.
- Pay creators on time: Upfluence Pay pays creators anywhere in one click and handles the tax forms and invoices.
- Track every sale: the real-time tracking dashboard shows each creator’s sales as they come in, whether your store runs on Shopify, Amazon, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, or Magento.
